&quot;Pirate Bay's plans for own country absurd&quot;

P2P site plans to avoid copyright laws in own 'nation'

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File sharing website Pirate Bay is allegedly in negotiations to buy an ex-military platform off the coast of Sussex to host its servers. But now an expert has rubbished the plans, calling them "nonsense".

Pirate Bay - the Swedish file sharing website that provides links to material that is often available to download without permission or a licence - has recently started a campaign to collect money from its users. The money is to be used to buy Sealand , a platform six miles off the Sussex coastline. The island fortress was built as a defence outpost for the British troops during World War II.

Residents of the platform have proclaimed Sealand a sovereign state. By buying the 'country', Pirate Bay hopes to place its servers there in order to bypass copyright laws.

But according to a British professor, these plans are absurd. "It is complete nonsense," said Robin Churchill of Dundee University .

"It is within 12 miles of the coast of Britain. That means that UK law applies, including the law of copyright, which could be extended to Sealand without any legal problems whatsoever," he told Out-law.com .

"For it to be a state a place needs to have a proper stable population, a functioning government and needs to be recognised by other states, and no existing other state recognises Sealand," Churchill added.

The Spanish estate agent involved in the transaction said that Pirate Bay may not be allowed to buy Sealand. The nation has pledged not to allow a sale that would damage the interests of, or act against, the UK.

For the past couple of years, Pirate Bay's existence has been heavily debated in Sweden. It has created its own political movement , and last year its servers were confiscated in police raids.

Piratebay has previously said that if it fails to buy Sealand it will buy another small island instead and attempt to set up its own nation there. It says prices for islands start at around $50,000 (about £25,320).